I Have Visitors!

More Pics: https://picasaweb.google.com/107996151971191519896/IHaveVisitors?authkey=Gv1sRgCNz52fK32LDr4QE#

Well it has been about one or two weeks since I have put up my last blog…Things have been going very well. The parents visited for five days! I wish they could have been here longer! They were able to have a wonderful Kenyan lunch with Zinga, watch me train a team, see the the orphanage (all the kids and Ali, who is doing much better!), the start of the L.C.F.L. ( overall, a successful day) , and they took me on safari!…It was the first time I left Mombasa in the past two months!

Although I was excited to go on safari and see other parts of Kenya, I was mostly excited about touring my parents around Likoni. The first stop was lunch with Zinga. For some reason I have not mentioned Zinga in my previous blogs. Zinga lives down the hill from Pungu. He and his wife supply us with the bread we and sometimes the monkeys eat in the morning. (On a side note, Tom has been more courageous and tried to enter the house the other day.) Zinga is a very big, strong man. Actually ZINGA means BIG in kiswahili, his real name is Paul. He also trained me in boxing for the first two months. However, the training has been delayed due to my lack of energy at the end of the day. Lunch was wonderful! We had fish with coconut sauce, salad, bread, mango, mchicha (greens)..I am sure I am forgetting something. Lets just say we all were satiated at the end of the meal.

After Zinga's meal, we waited for my Mom and Dad's first tuc-tuc ride (the transport used to watch me train one of the teams). From what I observed and what they said, I believe they loved the tuc-tuc. As we reached the field, the team's coaches and players warmly greeted my parents. They watched me train the team as they spoke with the coaches, and heard about their lives in Likoni and their goals for the future. At the end of the night my Dad said something like this: "You and your sisters would never play on a field like that and those kids were playing so well, on such a terrible field"…This is true.

After the training, we took a tuc-tuc ride to the orphanage to have dinner. Dr. and Mrs. Levey were able to meet Ali and see that he was up and walking :). Ali is much better, the infection is gone, and he does not have to go to the doctor anymore. The wound is still healing, but it is very small and he will be able to play soccer in no time. Also, my parents were able to meet all the kids, and many friends who came to eat dinner at the orphanage. Everyone was saying how beautiful my parents were…I would have to agree.

It was great to have Mom and Dad see the start of the exhibition matches for the L.C.F.L. They watched the coaches and me mark the fields with dirt oil before the games began. This is a tedious process, but the coaches say that dirt oil is best for marking the fields. Later, during one of the matches an mze (old man) brought a bench out for my parents and him to sit on. Kids of all ages sat and surrounded them, and my parents spoke with him and all the kids as they watched the game :). Twenty-two out of the twenty-four teams played, which I looked at as a success. Also, after a full day of soccer, eleven out of the thirteen coaches sat down with me for two hours. We spoke about the challenges we still faced to create a well-run league. However, we were still very happy about the day . Yes, I was not able to be with my parents all day, but they understood and we still had two and a half days of Safari!

Safari was wonderful! However, I will admit that I had trouble sleeping at night due to all the strange noises (I also was in my own room…all alone. I blame my parents haha). We saw ostrich, elephants, gazelle, dik-dik (I may be spelling it wrong..look it up :) ), alligator (or crocodile..I don't know, I always mix them up) , hippo, giraffe, hyenas and more. If you read that list you may be saying, "What about the lions, leopards, or cheetahs????" Well, we are not cat people..We are dog people. So, it serves us right that we did not see any cats… O well, maybe next time.

Although no lions, leopards, or cheetahs were seen, my parents and I were very happy. We headed back home, to Mombasa, where we ate dinner and spoke about our adventure. They left shortly afterward, and I went back to Likoni. I was sad to see them go, but I will see them in one month when I return home.

You might be asking what about last Sunday, April 17th? How did everything go, and what is happening with the league now? I will put up a new blog in the next day or two about the league. Things keep changing for the better, and we now have 28 teams..27 of those teams played yesterday, Sunday, April 17th!

Update: L.C.F.L.

Update with the L.C.F.L.

LINK TO PICTURES:

https://picasaweb.google.com/107996151971191519896/Apr92011?feat=email#

Hi guys! On my last post I gave you the schedule for when the league was starting, league meetings, advertisements for the league, etc. Things have changed ( as they always do..), but here is an update on what has been accomplished:

-Trash Clean-up (last Sunday March 27th)

About one hundred kids showed up. We had trash bags, gloves, and a mcoco teni ( big wooden cart). We worked from 10 AM to 3 PM, and at the end of the day I felt like we got NOTHING accomplished.

-The fields are surrounded by trash. My primary concern was to clean up the trash on the fields. The trash will continue to be cleaned up throughout the month.

- One corner of one of the fields is a trash dump (which I did not realize). Meaning when you clean up the trash..there is just another layer of trash underneath it. We ARE NOT going to be using this field. There is an additional field in another area, which does not have ANY trash on it, that will be used.

- We bought two second hand goal nets at a great price! ( Monday, March 28th)

-These nets are fish nets, that will be cut into goal nets. The coaches explained to me that the fish nets last much longer compare to regular goal nets.

-We still need two more goal nets!

-Random meetings with coaches throughout the week to discuss future plans..and a hospital visit to make sure I did not have malaria ( I did not have malaria) . I was sick for about six days.

-Meeting with five referees (last thursday March 31st)

The referees that will be a part of the league all live in and are from Likoni. It is called the Likoni Community Football League, so I decided we should try to keep everything in the community :). I think the meeting went pretty well. The referees : Salim, Bindo, Martin, Boaz, and Hassan all seemed to be very interested and gave me the impression that they wanted to take part in the L.C.F.L. However, referees come with a cost, and we made an agreement that they would be paid 200 shillings a game ( 600 shillings a day..remember: three matches on each field). What I am HOPING is that each team will bring 100 shillings per game…HOPEFULLY IT WILL WORK!

So, I gave the referees six days to decide whether they would want to work with us. This week, the referees who want to be a part of the Likoni Community Football League will come Wedsnday night, April 6th, and sign an agreement with the L.C.F.L.

- "Vetting of players" ( Sunday April 3rd)

Teams in this area have been known to cheat. If there is an Under-14 tournament in the area, teams will allow older boys to play. This will not happen in the L.C.F.L. We are making team rosters, and creating player cards for each player. So, the coaches wanted to have a day to bring all teams together to look at all the players for each team, from each age group, and decide which players were of age and which players were not. The Likoni coaches call this process : vetting.

You may be thinking why don't all the players just bring their birth certificates to prove their age. Here in Likoni, some kids do not have birth certificates, and many of the coaches have explained to me that if they do, the documents may be forged..please don't ask me why..Sijui (I don't know)

We had a great turn out, and things ran smoothly. Pictures were taken ( 4 kids at a time to save money for developing photos..we are going to cut out the faces and place them on each player card ) and team rosters were filled out. Every club showed up except for two, and I was told one of the clubs was playing in a tournament.

-A total of 252 kids "vetted", had their pictures taken, and their names and ages were recorded. Yes, we need all the kids, but I was very happy with the turnout.

Based on what has been accomplished, I have decided that there needs to be a change in the schedule. What the L.C.F.L. is going to do, is have the games on April 10th, 17th, and 24th be played as friendly matches ( a test for the league). We will take pictures of the clubs that did not show, and the kids that were not able to make it from other teams. Also, we will be able to see what problems we may be facing with organization, possible money issues with transportation and referees, and other possible issues.

-Possible future to deal with cost of transportation: Create different zones for each area of Likoni. There would be four to six clubs in each zone, with one to two fields. Each zone would have group play for two-three months. At the end of play group play, the top two teams from each zone would play in a champions league.

( Idea from Coach Swaleh)

So, the games on April 10th, 17th, and 24th will be played as friendly matches. The plan is by April 24th all issues will be worked out, and the league will officially start the following week (HOPEFULLY!). What I don't want, is try to start a league that is not ready to start. I do not want to put up banners, give out brochures, and advertise on local radio stations about a league that may initially have problems.

This week.:

-I already checked up on the goal posts. One set is already finished and the other set will be finished by tomorrow. The plan is to put the goal posts in on Weds or Thursday..depending on which day I have the most manpower.

-Need to buy the oil to mark the fields..coaches here say oil is the best and lasts the longest…I will let you know more once this is bought.

- Find or buy two more goal nets.

- Clean up fields..take out plants that are growing on the field and around the field (possibly hire labor workers to do this). This will be a continuous process through the month.

- MAKE PLAYER CARDS…buy cards (10 shillings per card..~350 cards, 3500 shillings, about $46 dollars) , develop pictures, cut faces out, and place on cards.

-I am hoping these cards will last for 2 years….

- Coaches already know game schedule for this coming Sunday..However, I will call and confirm with all coaches.

- Meeting with referees to sign agreement. (Wedsnday night)

-PARENTS COME IN THURSDAY NIGHT!

All the money that has been donated is going straight into the league. It is going toward the clean up and betterment of the four fields we are using. Player cards are being made, oil is being used for markings, goal nets are being bought, labor workers for the fields may be hired in the next two days. The workers will work for one or two days (four or five workers for ~300 shillings/day) ….Just, want to make sure you know where the money is going!! Thank you guys!!!